Thanks for the confirmation guys. Ya, I'll call him ASAP and tell him. I sure hope he hasn't glued his wing halves together yet!

-B

Someone asked in a previous post if you can hand launch this plane. It hand launches great. Just be sure that your hand is under the CG when you launch it. Don't hold it behind the main gear when you throw it. Use full power and it will just fly right off.
Joe C

The stock nose gear is decent, it just needs a bit of improvement. As I detailed earlier in this thread, it needs a reinforcing sleeve or bushing glued into the exterior of the fuselage to support it and shorten the levering forces on the inner pivot point; it needs a strong "helper" coil spring installed in the "shock" to stiffen it a bit; and it needs the top of the rod shortened to keep it from puncturing the Lipo pack when the suspension is fully compressed.

The stock nose gear is decent, it just needs a bit of improvement. As I detailed earlier in this thread, it needs a reinforcing sleeve or bushing glued into the exterior of the fuselage to support it and shorten the levering forces on the inner pivot point; it needs a strong "helper" coil spring installed in the "shock" to stiffen it a bit; and it needs the top of the rod shortened to keep it from puncturing the Lipo pack when the suspension is fully compressed.

hydro,
Thanks for your reply. I would suggest putting a wheel collar on the gear wire above the steering arm before installing it on the airplane nose wheel bushing, rather than shortening the rod. This will keep the rod from contacting the lipo battery, and maintain the proper gear height. The rod is junk metal. I fly off of grass, and it bends regardless of the reinforcing you suggest.
Joe C

The rod is longer than it needs to be. It only needs to be long enough for the set screw collar to tighten down upon it, and it can also be pre-loaded slightly before tightening it down.

If a fuselage reinforcement collar on the front gear is not enough, and you're still bending the rod, there's still things that can be done... Shortening of the rod and pre-loading the suspension as described will reduce the lever length of the landing gear. Also, after a crash, the foam can become squished so that the landing gear is no longer angled forward sufficiently. This forward slant is important because it transforms frontal impact (wheel running over bumps and stones) into vertical suspension travel. If the landing gear has defomed into a near-vertical shape, all of these small bumps will become lateral forces that will continue to deform the foam and bend the rod backward.

Also, you can the strengthen the fuselage against deformation by making the reinforcement collar part of a broad platic plate which is glued across an area of the fue, perhaps 2" x 3". I did this on my jet and it worked well.

The rod is longer than it needs to be. It only needs to be long enough for the set screw collar to tighten down upon it, and it can also be pre-loaded slightly before tightening it down.

If a fuselage reinforcement collar on the front gear is not enough, and you're still bending the rod, there's still things that can be done... Shortening of the rod and pre-loading the suspension as described will reduce the lever length of the landing gear. Also, after a crash, the foam can become squished so that the landing gear is no longer angled forward sufficiently. This forward slant is important because it transforms frontal impact (wheel running over bumps and stones) into vertical suspension travel. If the landing gear has defomed into a near-vertical shape, all of these small bumps will become lateral forces that will continue to deform the foam and bend the rod backward.

Also, you can the strengthen the fuselage against deformation by making the reinforcement collar part of a broad platic plate which is glued across an area of the fue, perhaps 2" x 3". I did this on my jet and it worked well.

If you look at the pictures you will see the reinforcement that I have done to the fuselage on the outside and I have done the same on the inside as well as strengthening the bearing plate. I still don't like it because of the small wheel. I have ordered a set of struts that are on the Dynam 310 Cessna, and I will put a wheel collar and steering arm on one of them to use as a nose wheel strut. I've been flying the 310 off a very bad grass field for a year and never bent a strut. The strut is much better wire, and the wheel is a lot bigger.
Joe C

Avoid crimps. They're heavy and unreliable. Better to solder and heat shrink. Make sure to use the correct resistors.

I also find soldering easier than crimping. I have counted 7 leds in that airframe. It nowhere says what forward voltage they are. Does anyone have a guess? I hope they are all the same.
Just found thes:http://metku.net/index.html?sect=vie...calc/index_eng
Should help.

Just put a series resistor on each LED, in the 500 ohm range, and plug the whole shebang into the BEC circuit (+ and - on the Rx.). You'll be playing it more than safe current-wise, on both the LED's and the BEC's regulator. Use 1k resistors if you run it directly off the Lipo pack.

Just put a series resistor on each LED, in the 500 ohm range, and plug the whole shebang into the BEC circuit (+ and - on the Rx.). You'll be playing it more than safe current-wise, on both the LED's and the BEC's regulator. Use 1k resistors if you run it directly off the Lipo pack.

OK thanks for the advice.
Now for an "elegant" miniature solution to wire it all together.
Maybe have a look at how the strip lighting guys do it.